Pediatric Intensive Feeding Program
By: Ada Chong
April 2022
Some parents take their children with complex feeding issues to the Multidisciplinary Feeding Program with hopes their child will transform their relationship with food. Dr. Will Sharp is the Director of the Feeding Program and has been treating pediatric feeding disorders over the past 15 years. As a pediatric psychologist, Dr. Sharp says he’s interested in the intersection between medical conditions and behavior. He was introduced to feeding during his fellowship. He enjoys building clinical capacity and evaluating outcomes.
The Feeding Program admits young children who don’t eat. He says there are two buckets of patients: 1.) Volume kids who restrict most or all oral intake and 2.) Variety kids who restrict the types of foods they eat.
The Feeding Program has physicians, nurse practitioners, dietitians, skill-based providers, a social worker and psychologists. They make a significant impact in a short amount of time. The program feeds children four meals a day, five days a week for up to 40 days. In 40 days, the program aims to introduce a nutritionally complete diet, train caregivers to implement therapeutic meals, and promote healthy growth.
Dr. Sharp believes many feeding issues are the result of the medical community getting more successful in treating conditions – such as prematurity or complex cardiac issues – that can disrupt a child’s relationship with food. He says more than 25,000 kids in the metro Atlanta area have feeding issues. Kids with issues such as food allergies, heart problems when they were born, risk for swallowing dysfunction, cancer and go through chemotherapy, intestinal rehab, and autism are at high risk for developing feeding problems.
The program typically treats 32 patients in the intensive program at the same time and each kid stays about 8-10 weeks. About 200 kids go through the program each year. There are four phases in the program:
1: Admission: Family orientation, treatment plan development, and meal observations.
2. Assessment, Treatment, and Goal Development: Therapeutic targets identified and intervention developed to advance oral intake.
3. Treatment Implementation and Progression Toward Goal: Multidisciplinary team monitors response to intervention and adjust treatment as needed.
4. Generalization to caregivers and preparation for discharge: Team prepares the family for discharge and work with families to maintain progress over time.
The average kid eats 0% of oral intake before entering the program and leaves the program eating 72% by mouth. 32% of kids in the program are weaned off their feeding tube. A year after being in the program, 74% of the kids are off their feeding tube.
Dr. Sharp and his team developed standardized treatment pathways and data collection process to guide how they advance care. They have published a body of literature that show benefits of this model of intervention. This work has informed coverage policy statements by major insurance carriers, which has resulted in the program now being recognized as the standard of care.
Dr. Sharp hopes to advance science even more by evaluating the cause, consequences, and remediation of pediatric feeding disorders over the next five years. He says there’s a local need to serve more kids with feeding problems and his goal is to advocate on a national level, get more recognition of this condition, help communicate that feeding disorders are an issue that needs to be detected and monitored, and scaling and expanding access to care for families in need.
The Feeding Program admits young children who don’t eat. He says there are two buckets of patients: 1.) Volume kids who restrict most or all oral intake and 2.) Variety kids who restrict the types of foods they eat.
The Feeding Program has physicians, nurse practitioners, dietitians, skill-based providers, a social worker and psychologists. They make a significant impact in a short amount of time. The program feeds children four meals a day, five days a week for up to 40 days. In 40 days, the program aims to introduce a nutritionally complete diet, train caregivers to implement therapeutic meals, and promote healthy growth.
Dr. Sharp believes many feeding issues are the result of the medical community getting more successful in treating conditions – such as prematurity or complex cardiac issues – that can disrupt a child’s relationship with food. He says more than 25,000 kids in the metro Atlanta area have feeding issues. Kids with issues such as food allergies, heart problems when they were born, risk for swallowing dysfunction, cancer and go through chemotherapy, intestinal rehab, and autism are at high risk for developing feeding problems.
The program typically treats 32 patients in the intensive program at the same time and each kid stays about 8-10 weeks. About 200 kids go through the program each year. There are four phases in the program:
1: Admission: Family orientation, treatment plan development, and meal observations.
2. Assessment, Treatment, and Goal Development: Therapeutic targets identified and intervention developed to advance oral intake.
3. Treatment Implementation and Progression Toward Goal: Multidisciplinary team monitors response to intervention and adjust treatment as needed.
4. Generalization to caregivers and preparation for discharge: Team prepares the family for discharge and work with families to maintain progress over time.
The average kid eats 0% of oral intake before entering the program and leaves the program eating 72% by mouth. 32% of kids in the program are weaned off their feeding tube. A year after being in the program, 74% of the kids are off their feeding tube.
Dr. Sharp and his team developed standardized treatment pathways and data collection process to guide how they advance care. They have published a body of literature that show benefits of this model of intervention. This work has informed coverage policy statements by major insurance carriers, which has resulted in the program now being recognized as the standard of care.
Dr. Sharp hopes to advance science even more by evaluating the cause, consequences, and remediation of pediatric feeding disorders over the next five years. He says there’s a local need to serve more kids with feeding problems and his goal is to advocate on a national level, get more recognition of this condition, help communicate that feeding disorders are an issue that needs to be detected and monitored, and scaling and expanding access to care for families in need.